Wrench



V portion a Patented Jan. 15, 1924.

Pref Price. -f

ARCHIBALDL. WALLACE, or New troni; n. Y.

. WRENCH.

Application led November 21, 1922. Serial No. 602,381l i `my improvement is'directed to that class ofV wrench which consists of a handle or lever V nd a chain or other flexible member adaptedv to 'extend from thev handle or lever, to* wrap" about tlie work object, and to engage at its free end with the handle or lever in effecting its grip upon the work object. A

It is desirable that the flexible member, or a slacklength thereof, shall be normally housed within thel handle, which is made hollow or tubular for the purpose, and it is also desirable thatk the exible member be Capable of withdrawal 'from the hollow handle, for service, against the tension of a spring which operates to retract it when released.

Also it is desirable that means be provided to lock the flexible member in a set position relatively to the handle with an extended length thereof engaged about a work object, in order that the work object -may be gripped and turned` when the wrench is moved in one direction, and released when the wrench is moved in theother direction. f

Therefore my invention consists in providing a hollow wrench handle with a stop device fixed therein at a point intermediate its length, a plunger movable relatively to saidstop, the plungerV engaging the flexible member at one end and a spring which lies between the stop device and the plunger to hold theiexible member normally retracted. Also my invention includes'the provision of lockingl means, mounted on thereof to lock the plunger in any adjusted positionV of the flexible member when' grippingly wrapped about a work object.

` means in the form of parallel hooks, spaced apartforthe passage 0f the exible meinllber and adapted lto cgi-"acty with terminal, parallel lugs extended from the handle, the

` 'cap 11. the handle, and noperablethrough the wallV engaging surfaces of they hooks and lugs having complementary eurvatures.

@ther features and advantages ofmy'in-J vention will hereinafter appear.

In the drawing Figure 1 isv a longitudinal, side sectional view of my improved wrench.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view Fig.- 3 isa section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

in Said views ist i, imi-icas a' hoiiow handle constituting the lever or'stockv portion of thewrench. "This handle may consist of' a section of metallic tubing, and is here shownl as provided with a .stopper 2 screwed into-.its vrear end, as closure means therefor. I c f thereof, and- At its forward end the tubular handle is iiattened to provide the relatively straight sides 3, 3, which terminate in the lugsl,

4, each having a like, rounded lperimeter 5,.

Also c.

and a lrearwardly inclined edge 6. at the forward end of the tubular handle its upper wall', which is cut away,V to leave a clearance between said endv and the lugs L1, 4, is depressed as at 7, the depression resulting in the formation of a lip-like bearing for the exible member in its movement in and out ofthe handle. n Y I The flexible member is here represented as a chain 8 kcomposed of-pivotal links. One end of the chain isco-nnected, as by pivot 9, with one end of a" bar 10, towhose opposite end there is connected a disk or cap 11,

'as by screw 12, thisv disk lor cap being of Located Wahin'the tandis, ,at a` point" therein intermediate its length, is a block 13, said block being'secured to the handle in la set position, as by a screw 14. The

block 13, which is recessed at 15to slidably.l

receivethebar 10, serves as a forward stop for a helical spring 16,v that surrounds bar 10, andis confined between block 13 and The spring 16 is normally extended to hold the 'bar 10 andy chain S'retracted within the handle, but upon drawin the chain g A outwardly'thereby thejspring ecomes .con- .vAl'so, Imy improvement the iiexible Y member is provided. with terminal engaging tion'of the handle isjdashoew'i18', whose inner surface is serrated to engage serrations 19 formed on the `opposed surface of bar 10, for the purpose of locking the bar 10 in a set position lengthwise relatively to the handle.

The shoe 18 is carried by a flat spring 20, to which it is secured as by a screw 21 that centrally unites these members. The spring 2O'V fits at its opposite ends respectively in Vnicks or slits 22, 22 provided in a bridge member 28, that spans the slot 17 and is secured, as by screws 24, 24 to the handle. Hence it is by the exercise of pressure, applied to spring 20, that the shoe may be caused to engage the bar 10. The shoe is guided in its movement by means of lugs 25, 25 extended from block 13. f

Mounted on bridge member 23, as by a transverse pivot 26 is a yoke-lile thumb piece'27, which has Van inner, terminal cam surface 28, adapted, when the thumb piece isrocked in one direction, to depress spring y20, thereby moving shoe 17 inwardly in the erformance of its bar locking operation. ut, when the thumb piece is rocked in the other direction thereby spring 20 is released by the cam, and in consequence the shoe is withdrawn from its engagement with the bar.

The outer end of chain 8 has a terminal member composed of the block portion 29, recessed to receive the end link of the chain, to which it is pivotally connected, and side bars 30, 30, which are spaced apart, in parallelism, and continue into the hook portions 81, 31. The spacing between these hook portions is sufllcient to freely receive the chain as it is wrapped about the work object, because ink the operation of the deabled to also engage the pipe.

vice, when for example a pipe m is to be turned, the chain is drawn out of the handle,

passed around the pipe, and its hooks 31, 31 respectively, engaged with the lugs 4, .4, leaving a slight clearance between the block portion 29 Aand incline 6, as in Fig. 1, with the hooks straddling the chain atthe point of its emergence past the lugs 4, 4.

By ythis means the chain is enabled to form a complete yencircling ring about the pipe, because the rear surfaces of the hooks lie against the pipe, and the chain portionV which lies between the hooks is thereby en- With the chain thus wrapped about the pipe by means ofa snilicient length thereof extended aginst the sprin tension, the chain' must then be'loclred, by engaging shoe 18 with bar 10. K'

. It then follows that by moving-'the handle downwardly, any slight slack therein is absorbed in t'he clearancewbetween block 29 and vincline 6, whereupon a powerful grip 'of the chain upon the pipe is attained, and' in moving the' handle-'upwardly this grip is released. y

Variations within the spirit and scope of my invention are equally comprehended by the foregoing disclosure.

I claim:-

1. The combination, in a wrench having a hollow handle, and a flexible gripping member partly containable therein, ofv a plunger engaged -with the inner end of the flexible member, a spring to extensibly retain the flexible member partly within the handle, and manually operable means to lock the plunger to the handle and thereby hold the flexible member in an extended operative position.

2. The rcombinatiomin ay wrench having a hollow handle, and ay flexible gripping member partly containable therein, of a bar having a head at one end and means of engagement with lthe llexible member at its i other end, said bar movable longitudinally sibly Yretain the flexible member partly within 'the handle.

4. The combina-tion, in a wrench'having a hollow handle, of a block, having guide means..fixed within said handle, a bar'slidable through the guide means, a yflexible member engaged with said bar and vextended bevond the handle, a. spring operable between the block and bar to extensibly retain the flexible member partly within'lthe handle, and means, operable through the side of the handle, to lock the 'bar and thereby hold the Hexible member -in an extended, `operative position.

5. The combination, in a wrench having a hollow `handle,.cf a barilongitudinally slidable thereimsaid bar engaging a flexible member Vwhich extends out beyond the handle, spring means co-acting with the barV gaged from said bar, and manually operable l means to press the shoe into loclringen* gagement with the bar.

6. The combination, in a wrench having a hollow handle. and a yflexible gripping member `partly containable therein, the handle having a slot therein, of a plunger engaged with the inner end of the flexible, f

member, a spring te extensibly retain the flexible member partly within theV handle,

a shoe movable through the slot, a bridge piece eoverin the slot, a spring engaged with said bridge piece and holding the shoe normally retracted, and a manually operable Cam, pivoted to the bridge piece, to press the shoe into locking engagement with the plunger.

7. The combination, in a wrench having a handle and a flexible grip-ping member extensible therefrom, of parallel, spaced lugs, with curved terminal edges extended from the handle, said lugs spaced apart for the passage between them of the flexible member, and parallel, terminal hooks for the leX'ble member, also spaced apart to straddle the flexible member, the hooks having seating eurvatures complementary to the curved edges of the lugs, to eo-aet therewith in enabling the flexible member to completely enwrap a work object'.

Signed at the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county and State of New York, this 20th day'of November, .1922.

ARCHIBALD L. WALLACE. 

